Graduation day at Monterey: Officials continue push to keep facility open

Thursday

Aug 29, 2013 at 6:27 PM

On Thursday, the Monterey Shock Incarceration Facility graduated 18 inmates from the six-month program. If the program's history of low recidivism rates is any indication, few of them will see the inside of a prison again.

If the program's history of low recidivism rates is any indication, few of them will see the inside of a prison again.

But unless state officials change their minds, this will be among the last groups to graduate at the camp. After Thursday's graduation, there are approximately 160 inmates left at the facility, all of whom will graduate over the next five months.

The state has no plans to send more inmates to Monterey.

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, Elmira Mayor Susan Skidmore and Schuyler County Sheriff William Yessman attended the graduation ceremony to show their support for the facility.

"Monterey Shock is something we're going to fight for," Reed said.

Reed said he didn't know why state officials put the Monterey facility on the chopping block.

"We haven't heard a clear answer," he said.

Asked to describe the camp's August graduates, Reed simply said: "Impressive." He said the program is "changing lives."

Reed points to the facility's 7 percent recidivism rate, compared to 20 percent in the same period for other state prison facilities. The recidivism rate is the likelihood that a convict will return to prison for another crime after they're released.

He also says the savings to the state from reduced incarceration costs was $1.4 billion.

Reed says he plans to speak directly to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to urge him to reconsider the Monterey closure.

Skidmore highlighted other benefits of the program, closer to home.

She said Monterey inmates had done work in Eldridge Park, on the Lackawanna Trail and in other locations in the Elmira area as part of community service work details.

All told, she said the inmates' work had saved city taxpayers more than $70,000, calculated at minimum wage.

Skidmore's answer to how the city would replace that work was direct.

"We can't," she said.

She noted that the inmates' labor was helping to offset budget and staff cuts by the local governments they serve.

"This is a huge loss to us," Skidmore said.

Reed and Skidmore said they were hoping to see resolutions supporting the facility from county legislatures and other governments in areas where the camp's inmates have done public service work.

Monterey inmates have worked as far away as Binghamton, Skidmore said.

The facility, whose pending closure was announced last month by state officials, employs 124 workers. The state says it plans to avoid layoffs, but the employees would be transferred to other correctional facilities or other state agencies.

The Shock Incarceration program was designed to bring lower-level young male offenders back in line through a six-month, boot camp-like program that includes group counseling, drug and alcohol abuse treatment, physical training and work details. The Monterey facility was the first of its kind in the state.

Three medium-security prisons will also close next year as the state restructures its corrections system. Officials have said the downsizing is necessary because the number of state prisoners has declined to 54,600 from a high of 72,584 in 1999.